A change of pace
by Gingersnapswild
Summary: You live a life consumed by loneliness and sadness. But what happens on one fateful night? What will happen in your life?
1. Chapter 1

The snow fell lightly, like a gentle rain that wouldn't stop. It covered the ground in a soothing and calm dust, which grew ever thicker. I placed my hand on the window, the warmth of my hand against the raw coldness of the window caused the area around my hand to become misty and clouded, I pulled my hand away and looked gratified at the handprint left behind on the cold glass. An immense sound of bangs and pops filled the air, leaving a thick smell in the air, which although was suffocating brought relief to me. I walked outside through the open patio doors in front of me; I sat alone on the wall before me, staring at the spectacular show that was happening in the sky. Many flashes: sapphire blue, emerald green, golden yellow, amethyst purple and pearly silver appeared before me.

I clamped my hands together and whispered to myself,

"Please let this year be interesting and worth living through, please! I'll give anything!"

A single tear fell freely from my eye; it hit the stone of the wall and froze to it, my body shivered in the night's embrace, a harsh cold embrace that possessed the cracks in my broken and empty heart. As I watched through clouded eyes, the world was lighting up with thousands of lights and the happiness of thousands of people. Fireworks; which welcomed the New Year, a new start, a new hope. Yet for me, every year goes by slowly and pointlessly, with no hope at all. Everything is the same: stuck in a dead-end job, never lasting relationship, friends that are never there for me and no family. I sighed and walked half-heartedly back into my small and comfortable home, a bungalow to be precise. A lovely home, for two, alas it was only me that lived here, alone, quiet. I paced up and down the dark hallway, its walls covered in endless midnight black paint, at certain points gatherings of light and dark violet roses attacked the midnight, trying to put some life into the dead unknown.


	2. Chapter 2

After pacing countlessly for several minutes, I stared aimlessly at the raven emptiness, tiny orbs of silver light had scattered themselves in the sky above. I gasped in awe, I always loved watching the night sky, watching the stars; though I never knew any constellations back then. I dragged my stone grey trench coat out of the depths of my wardrobe and slung it across my body. I walked out of the hollow, deadly quiet bungalow, I followed my feet to wherever they took me, twisting through alleys and streets. Eventually my feet had directed me to a open field, the golden grass grew up high, grasping onto passers-by and holding them back. I battled and lashed my way through the soulless grass blades. I stood upon the hill of lonely and lost memories, the air bit at my skin that was uncovered; I shivered unwillingly at the thought of those who have someone to spend this time of year with. The hugs, the kisses, the I love yous. I sighed into the night, the darkness wrapped around me, the only sort of love or affection I receive from anyone.

I snapped, a waterfall fell from my eyes, a never ending one. I cried and cried and the tears still came. Never stopping.

"Erm, miss, erm are you okay?" A kind quiet voice spoke from behind me. Not too long after my tear filled silence, I felt a soft gentle hand placed on my shoulder, I sharply pulled away; I refused to be touched or consoled. I turned swiftly on my heels to come face to face with the owner of the gentle voice and touch. Messy but styled black as the night hair came to the bottom of his jaw line and covered his face slightly. His cold navy blue eyes held the depths and secrets of the deepest ocean. His attire consisted of a snow white shirt, top two buttons undone showing his collar bone. Light blue faded jeans donning a black belt. I was left speechless.

"Miss, are you okay? Why are you crying?" Asked the man in front of me with pure kindness in his voice.

"er, I…," I shook my head gently, my hair fell in front of my eyes. I sighed "Honestly, I feel alone, completely and utterly alone, I live alone, I have no friends nor do I have family. I'm sick of these times of year when everyone spends time happily together, while I have to sit back and watch, alone." A few more tears escaped from my eyes. I quickly looked up towards the stars and the emptiness above, my cosmic blue hair moving away from my blue-grey eyes.

"You like the stars?" he asked inquisitively

My attention was brought back to reality, dragged down by gravity, I looked at the man in front of me.

"Yes, I've always had a passion for the stars, why do you ask?"

"I, I was just wondering, you seem distracted by them" the man started to rub the back of his head and looked away, sort of embarrassed. I shook my head in defeat and started laughing, which was quite an alien feeling for me since I hadn't even smiled never mind laughed in a long time. I stared below at the golden grass that was dusted in a fair covering of snow.

"It's my birthday today, sorta sucks to be honest, another year gone, another year wasted" I spoke matter of fact, not faltering even though tears were still falling.

"Oh! Happy birthday," he announced cheerfully "How old are you?"

I gave a cheeky smile and leaned closer,

"You aren't supposed to ask a lady her age!"

To this statement the man in front of me started to wave his hands frantically in front of him, seeming to be slowly getting flustered.

"No, I, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be rude, forgive me" he spoke quickly, I carried on laughing, tears of sadness and loneliness were replaced by tears of joy. I glanced by the man's side, a telescope stood by him proudly, investigating the skies above the world. He noticed my intrigue,

"You want to have a look?" He smiled gently. I nodded as a wordless response, he guided me with his arm stretched out behind me to the jet black telescope, I peered through the eye piece to see the stars above. Stars; beacons of hope, of love, of joy, well really any positive emotion you can put to them. A night like this would have to be spent with loved ones or friends. Myself on the other hand, was stood in snowy field adorned by grass that stood tall against any flower that did happen to grow there. A complete stranger that I had just met stood on my right who I felt comfortable with, god knows why, cause I didn't.

"You hungry?" he asked calmly

"Yes, I haven't eaten for a while." I replied while holding my stomach and realizing how hungry I actually was. I extremely loud growl loomed from the silence, no wild cat could make such a sound, a tiger or lion could attempt but it was too fierce, even they would've been scared off completely. I backed away slowly, curious but more freaked out than anything.

"Sorry!, I get hungry easily and when I do my stomach likes to announce it" the man stood beside spoke. I stared at him and then his stomach.

"THAT CAN'T BE HUMAN!" My eyes widened realizing what he said was true. A long silence followed. Very long. Unnaturally long. Our eyes met. Next thing we knew we were laughing so hard we had fallen to the ground. After a long while of laughing, we stood and brushed off the snow that had glued itself to our clothing. After watching the man pack away the telescope, we walked slowly, exchanging conversation.

"What's your name?" I asked, realizing I hadn't asked him yet.

"Li" he smiled gently

"Li…hm, nice name" I returned a smile


	3. Chapter 3

I stared amused yet shocked at the sight before me. Standing immensely high, like skyscrapers trying to reach unbelievable heights, teetering on the edge of oblivion. Bowls upon bowls were settled on top of each other, swaying gently to a silent melody. 25 bowls were the sum of this towering structure. He sat devouring yet another bowl and added it to the leaning tower. God he loves to eat! I agree the ramen is nice, but how can someone eat that much and still stay that skinny. When he reaches thirty he's going to be so F-A-T. He halts and peers over the circular rim of the bowl, elbow angled high holding chopsticks with pride, which were about to force another load of ramen into his open and waiting mouth. I watched his expression change from being frozen to a great unexpected smile, I returned a smile and carried on eating my own bowl of ramen. I could only eat the one bowl, although I need to come here more often, the staff seem to know Li, they weren't shocked by how much he had ordered. After finishing the ramen and both deciding we had enough, we left the restaurant or whatever you want to call it. We walked for a while, in the vast night, on most corners were people holding their unbelievably drunk friends as they puked uncontrollably onto anything possible, it seemed like a weird craze that was happening everywhere no matter where you looked. Typical, they had fun. Admittedly that night was the best night I had in a rather long time.

"It's getting late, well, early, I have work tomorrow…damn it…" I growled and hung my head in defeat.

"You don't like your job?" He asked kindly, I shook my head.

"I hate it with a passion, but it's the only job I can get." I sighed.

"Do you want me to walk you home?" he asked

"erm, sure, couldn't hurt" I was in a dilemma, should I, what if he robs me, what if all this is all a act, I thought.

It took a while to reach my hell home. Its windows looked like the empty eye sockets of a skull, peering out into the night, frightening any living thing that passed. The roof was chipped and broken bones, a murder scene that had never been noticed. I sighed at the wasteland that was the garden, nothing biological could grow there, it was all dead. No matter how hard I tried, nothing worked.

"This is your home?" He spoke shocked

"Yes, it's a hell hole, I know, not very homely either" I laughed nervously

Li walked me to my door and I carefully unlocked it with my key.

"Well, night Li." I frowned I wondered if I would ever see him again.

"night…erm…" he stopped

"My names Elizabeth, just call me Lizzy" I replied light heartedly

"Good night Lizzy" Li spoke quietly as he stepped backwards, I observed him as he reluctantly left the premises. I closed the door gently and slid down it, hitting the icy cold floor with a thump. My head hung ashamed. God damn it, why do I do this every time? It never ends out well, just leave him alone, you don't need to mess his life up. I flicked my boots off so they hit the wall with a crack. I wandered hopelessly into my bedroom and changed hastily into more comfortable clothing, I stood and watched the night pass by. My perception of time had left me by the time I snapped out of my incohesive daydream. I decided to sit on the wall outside, I opened the patio doors and took a well deserved breath of thick air and carefully sat on the bitter cold wall. I gently drew out my IPod from the corner of my pocket and plugged in my earphones. I turned up the sound to nearly full, I laid on the wall and stared at the sky just as 'We don't belong' by Black Veil brides began to sound. I sang along quietly, and tears fell

"I don't belong here" I spoke, sadly.

A bright light engulfed the sky, the stars vanished from sight, no darkness could be seen, nothing could be heard. It felt like being in a vacuum, it was suffocating. At that one moment, every person in the entire world watched the sky, the light not only covered my sky, but everyone's sky. That's when it happened.


	4. Chapter 4

It was five years after the incident, the incident that collaborated to the alteration of the world. Everyone's world changed so rapidly, without warning. The magnificent night sky had been replaced, with what people now call the artificial sky, the original stars disappeared completely. There was two tragedies which happened during this time, the appearance of two gates, one in Brazil known as Heaven's gates the other known as Hell's gate which took residence in Tokyo. It was through this that individuals with unnatural powers called contractors and passive mediums called dolls emerged just days after the gates appeared. The other was the disappearance of heaven's gate, leaving most of Brazil inaccessible. However the event before Heaven's gates disappearance could also be named a tragedy. A full-scale war was in progress, contractors used as weapons, it isn't known what groups were involved in the war, all I know is that it was a bloodbath. Humans don't know about contractors or dolls, the government don't want them to know, however there are a few individuals that are granted the knowledge. Those who do find out about contractors have gate based researched used on then, also known as M.E. I fought in heaven's war, I survived. Soon after the incident on my birthday, I soon become a contractor, not sure how, but I did. Slowly but surely I started to notice changes in my behavior. Rational thinking was possessing my mind, my emotions departed leaving me blank. I started to develop powers which were inhuman. I still remember heaven's war very well.

I stood in a grassy field, the luxurious blood splattered blades of grass brushed against my death black, ripped and faded jeans. I stared at the continuous onslaught before me, blood dripping from the discarded bodies that lay on the grass, slowly becoming blanched as time passes on. The ominous blue glow around my body calmed as I watched masses of fake stars that were placed into the artificial midnight blue sky proceed to fall. Never stopping. Not even for a second. Every time a contractor dies, a star falls, their star. My eyes glowed a fiery red that only added to the effect of the ghostly blue glow that surrounded my body. Like a sudden formation of a tornado, flakes of pure white snow embraced me and created a blizzard so I could not be accessed by any living thing. As the fragments of snow started to calm, I peered now to see a dead emerald vine wrapped around my ankle and up to my knee, like a snake stuck in time. I gazed behind me. Silent. Stood not too far away was a fellow contractor, this particular contractor had chunks of his arms and body unaccounted for. By the way he carved another chunk from his already bloody arm and let it drop to the ground, this was his payment. Just before he could make another attack, particles of snow lashed forward, ripping through the air from behind me to the man ahead. My eyes glowing the colour of the devil's hell and the light surrounding my body giving a phantom and undead appearance as the snow kept moving rapidly forward. Screaming and begs for mercy is all that could be heared escaping from the man's mouth. Blood stained the snow, as knife like shards of snow came in contact with the contractor's skin, continuously, never ending, until I willed it so. The sound of a body collapsing filled the air, the unpleasant stench of freshly spilled blood filled my lungs, nearly causing me to convulse. I pulled a piece of blood splattered paper from my stone grey trench coat pocket, and started to write:

A soul torn

A heart lost

A time mourned

A hidden cost

A empty shell

Another life

Another skin has felt the knife

A heart broken

A life gone

Something unspoken

Something went wrong

One more regret

A emptiness constant

Another life just fell silent

My price, my payment, writing poems and stories, not that I mind, I love to write. I searched the sky, my eyes frantically looking as more and more stars fell. I sighed and leaned on a patch of untainted grass. A blue light filled my surroundings, then everything went black.

After I awoke, I was home again, in the hell hole, also known as my bungalow, the house that was a death trap, any unwelcome visitors were soon disposed of. I carried on living, although I wondered about Heaven's war, I just carried living my seemingly normal life. To everyone else, I was a innocent citizen that went away every so often, I pay my bills, I do my bit, and that's everything that concerns them. My job perked up though. Not so long after becoming a contractor a organization called the syndicate hired me, mainly as an assassin. I do what I'm told and I get paid once the job had been successful. I work alone, always have, always will.

I walked through the town, adorning my casual clothing, red skinny jeans, band shirt, which of course is Black Veil Brides and knee high converse. I wandered aimlessly, peering into shop windows every so often. I carried on following my feet until I came to a place I recognize, the ramen shop that I hadn't been since…that night. I decided for a change of pace. I strode inside. I didn't think this place would still be here after all this time! I thought to myself. I sat at a table and looked at the menu, the menu hasn't changed at all. I peered up, over the fine edge of the laminated menu. A distant but close memory evaded my detection as I watched a familiar looking man walk into the restaurant. My attention was on him the whole time, watching every detail. God he seems familiar! Masses and masses of bowls came appearing, dozen by dozen and got placed on the table in front of the mystery man.

"Thanks" he said. A loud growl echoed in the room. Only then did I finally remember who this man was. I stood.

"Li?!"


End file.
